LOS ANGELES – It is the crime that brings unrelenting punishment, it seems, especially at playoff time.

San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, trying to clear the puck in a shorthanded situation, with the Sharks trying to seal up a game they had already packaged, flipped the puck over the glass.

Automatic delay of game. It doesn't matter if you meant to. It matters very much if it creates a three-on-five. And it matters more than anyone in San Jose wants to ponder right now, when it happens against a team that has mastered the art of winning postseason games in spite of itself.

Dustin Brown punched in a rebound from a Mike Richards shot. Trevor Lewis converted after a brazen rush by rookie Tyler Toffoli. The twin shocks hit the Sharks in a span of 22 seconds, and Lewis' goal happened with 1:21 remaining.

Thus the Kings escaped with a 4-3 victory and took a 2-0 lead in this Western Conference semifinal.

"They don't need to hear from me right now," said resolute Sharks coach Todd McLellan. "But they do need to think about all the good things they did. We'll go back to San Jose and the sun will come up and we'll start preparing for Game 3."

The good things included a comeback from an early 2-0 deficit, a 68 percent win rate in the faceoff circle, and a two-assist game from veteran Scott Gomez.

Vlasic's backhander, on a shot that ricocheted off the backboard by Brad Stuart, put the Sharks ahead, 3-2, with 11:04 remaining.

"We didn't play very well," Lewis said. "We didn't get much traffic in front of the net. We didn't win many faceoffs. There's a lot of things to work on between now and the next game."

The psychological fallout will only be measured when the series resumes in San Jose, but the Kings have every right to feel bulletproof.

The unraveling began with a tripping penalty on Stuart as the Kings stepped up the attack. They had already gotten one power-play goal, on a bullet from Drew Doughty.

"When we won last year," Brown said, "it took all four lines to do it. We needed our depth tonight as well. It was a lot like Game 4 of the last series (against St. Louis). We were in trouble and we got two goals back-to-back."

Coach Darryl Sutter deflected talk of his power play unit. "There was no unit," he said. "We used 14 guys during the course of the night."

Anze Kopitar had to leave when a shot by Brown deflected and hit him in the mouth. He would return in the third, of course.

Toffoli, who was the Rookie of the Year in the American Hockey League and played 10 games for the varsity, made his foray at the end.

Brad Richardson, another seasoned player who was called into action when Jarret Stoll was KO'd by San Jose's Raffi Torres in Game 1, made a pretty flip pass when cornered by two Sharks that led to Doughty's power-play goal.

It took the whole kingdom, as it normally does, but when the glow of victory fades, Sutter will have plenty of reminders to drop.

Stoll's absence was magnified in the faceoff circle, where San Jose's Joe Thornton was 14-4, the Kings' Richards was 6-13, and the Sharks overall were 44-21.

The Kings at least knew they'd be rid of Torres for the rest of the series. He was suspended by the NHL's Department of Player Safety late Thursday afternoon.

"It doesn't matter what Todd McLellan thinks," the San Jose coach said. "Was it the same type of hit that had gotten him suspended in the past? Absolutely not. But we go from there."

As for Sutter, he observed that it had been a rough day almost from the beginning.

"I lost my reading glasses and wound up having to pay $79 for the new pair," he said. "That's a lot. Usually you can get three pair from Costco for $20."

Fortunately he got a good look at the final two minutes.

"We found a way," he said. "We're playing a good team. You don't expect to play them in a series and think they're not going to have the lead at some point."

Kings fans do expect that. The past two playoff series have taught them to.

"We got to Jonathan Quick," McLellan said. "He's given up three goals only one other time in the playoffs.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.